This invention relates generally, as indicated, to a ventilator system for a building attic or other such dead air space which minimizes water blow-through with minimal sacrifice of vent area.
Normal venting of a roof gable or other dead air space of a building attic is an exhaust flow of air supplied by lower soffet vents. However, water blow-through in a ventilator system caused by a driving rain or snowstorm can be a serious problem especially if the vent area requirements for a particular application are relatively large. In the usual case, the larger the vent area requirements, the greater the amount of water blow-through that is likely to occur.
Heretofore, various efforts have been made to reduce the amount of water blow-through in a ventilator system by increasing the overlap between louver blades, and providing flanges along the length of the blades to disrupt the air flow. However, such prior ventilator designs have not proven to be very effective in preventing water blow-through especially when the rain or snow is driven by high winds. Also, if the louver blades are made of a one-piece plastic molding for reduced maintenance, the louver blades cannot be overlapped because of molding considerations.
Another drawback of known ventilator systems that provide some reduced water blow-through is that they do so at the sacrifice of vent area. Also, such ventilator systems generally require the builder to rough out a stud opening in a building structure for receipt of the ventilator systems, which adds to the cost of installation.